Do you think modern games with a retro look have the same charm?

[dropsmegamega]

Most of the times they don't. But as I see it, its just another type of artstyle, it doesn't need to carefully replicate the limitations of the era if that isn't what its sets to do. I personally like pre-rendered graphics and 480p, but don't really see any point in replicating 90s hardware limitations, but rather I think its interesting to see how you can evolve these kind of styles.

 

[TropicalFreeze3499]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A feel a lot of times they overdo it. Another problem is yes, you got the look, but do you have everything else. I was playing Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom and sure, it has the look, but a lot of the dialogue was painfully 2024 despite trying to mimic an early N64/Saturn game.

 

[Don Patch]

Gonna be in the minority here, but no.
I could write a lengthy essay as to why.
I won't. But I could. I've gone on verbally on numerous occasions.
Maybe I'll throw up a thread or an article... but I wouldn't want to piss anyone off, jah?

That said, my opinion isn't an indictment on anyone's taste as a games-player nor anyone's sense of creativity. Like what you like, make what you make.

 

[Yukyon]

It can work, A short hike is a good example on a retro styled game

 

[Yousef]

Hard no. This is a really difficult thing to duplicate. A movie critic once said you can’t marinate your brain in old movies, that you can’t solely rely on the homage approach and the same principle applies here. If your game is nothing but a homage with no soul of its own, it creates a really difficult art to connect with emotionally, because it’s not its own thing. It’s in someone else’s shadow and we’ll forever be.

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

Usually no unless it actually feels like a game that would run on retro hardware.

 

[Taukyrie]

Do you think it's just a cash grab taking advantage of the popular aesthetic online?

Outside of like a few exceptions like Shovel Knight, World of Horror, and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, I personally think this is mainly the main reason for a lot of these modern games that look retro. It's pretty much to capitalize on nostalgia for an aesthetic when many games looked like that mostly due to system limitations.

Honestly, especially if it's done wrong, the retro aesthetic is mostly there as a crutch to cut corners with some indie developers so if someone says that it looks bad, they can be like "oh it's supposed to be a PS1 styled horror game, so it's okay if it looks bad"!

This is a really difficult thing to duplicate. A movie critic once said you can’t marinate your brain in old movies, that you can’t solely rely on the homage approach and the same principle applies here. If your game is nothing but a homage with no soul of its own, it creates a really difficult art to connect with emotionally, because it’s not its own thing. It’s in someone else’s shadow and we’ll forever be.

This, too. Like it is fine to take inspiration, but you shouldn't make it just a homage to another game. I feel like the actual best retro-styled indie games actually bring something original to the table.

Like for a non-retro example, but Okami was inspired by Legend of Zelda, but if you actually play Okami, you can tell that it's not just "Legend of Zelda but you play as a wolf". It takes a framework and makes it its own!

I'll also admit, sometimes there's a cynical part of me whenever an indie game is said to be inspired by something where I'm internally like "because you actually like the game or because people wouldn't buy it if it wasn't based on a popular or dead IP?".

 

[Ikagura]

Honestly, especially if it's done wrong, the retro aesthetic is mostly there as a crutch to cut corners with some indie developers so if someone says that it looks bad, they can be like "oh it's supposed to be a PS1 styled horror game, so it's okay if it looks bad"!

Too many people are assuming that if textures aren't high and that the models are realistic they'd assume the game would lookbad...

Like for a non-retro example, but Okami was inspired by Legend of Zelda, but if you actually play Okami, you can tell that it's not just "Legend of Zelda but you play as a wolf". It takes a framework and makes it its own!

The main challenge is to be as good as Zelda.

Okami is nice but cannot reach the aura of the franchise...

I'll also admit, sometimes there's a cynical part of me whenever an indie game is said to be inspired by something where I'm internally like "because you actually like the game or because people wouldn't buy it if it wasn't based on a popular or dead IP?".

To be honest F-zero fans are starved of actual games so it may help a bit that an indie game is like that.

Aero GPX still is good as it introduced original mechanics making it stand out.

 

[Taukyrie]

Too many people are assuming that if textures aren't high and that the models are realistic they'd assume the game would lookbad...

Do you mind if I ask you to explain a bit more with what you mean by this? I don't want to misunderstand what you are saying, I'm sorry.

The main challenge is to be as good as Zelda.

Okami is nice but cannot reach the aura of the franchise...

That's true, but at the same time I will argue that Okami doesn't have the aura of a franchise because it's one of those games that honestly doesn't absolutely NEED a sequel. While yes, it's open-ended enough to leave room for one, I don't think it's absolutely required.

Aero GPX still is good as it introduced original mechanics making it stand out.

Yes, more games like this, please!

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

Didn't Okami have a sequel on the DS or 3DS? Regardless this is running away from the main post.

I don't think games made in retro style will really have that same charm as ones running on old software even if they do run on the genuine era appropriate engines and if you burn them on a CD could play on the PS1 right beside Crono Cross I think just the inherited nature of being made today and not '94 will be nagging in the back of your mind that keeps it in a bubble. Does that mean they might not get the same love as PS1 game? No but we're still going to love the effort and the game (if it's good on it's own) for reminding us that we're not old farts harping about good old days or gaming snobs that think games peaked in 6th gen and now it's only been game studios trying to make movies to be taken seriously but a genuine art form and wanting to explore an older era of it.

 

[Ikagura]

Do you mind if I ask you to explain a bit more with what you mean by this? I don't want to misunderstand what you are saying, I'm sorry.

Some people think that a good looking game must be realistic.

Yes, more games like this, please!

Absolutely, Lake Feperd also has made one (XF something) but I'd love a rebirth of the antigravity racing genre.

 

[Taukyrie]

Some people think that a good looking game must be realistic.

Oh yeah, that is definitely not true. If anything, it just makes the game super ugly at times.

But yeah, we're kind of getting a bit off topic.

 

[Ikagura]

But yeah, we're kind of getting a bit off topic.

True, I'll just put this here

While it may no longer be as true as before this was an issue

 

[thanonyx]

Retro style games can be fun but the charm belongs to retro games themselves and themselves alone.

 

[Ikagura]

I'm glad that games like Shovel Knight or Aggelos understood palettes

And DYA with almost Amiga tier pixel art

 

[thanonyx]

I'm glad that games like Shovel Knight or Aggelos understood palettes

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And DYA with almost Amiga tier pixel art
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Oh yeah, they NAILED it!

 

[Ikagura]

Oh yeah, they NAILED it!

DYA and SuperGiant are legit two great devs, especially art wise.

 

[ciro64]

True, I'll just put this here

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While it may no longer be as true as before this was an issue
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You forgot this one:

Spoiler

 

[Yousef]

I'll also admit, sometimes there's a cynical part of me whenever an indie game is said to be inspired by something where I'm internally like "because you actually like the game or because people wouldn't buy it if it wasn't based on a popular or dead IP?".

To be honest F-zero fans are starved of actual games so it may help a bit that an indie game is like that.

Aero GPX still is good as it introduced original mechanics making it stand out.

This too. While there’s definitely some validity in chasing a dry market (supply and demand and allat), it’s so frequent nowadays that I instinctively avoid like 40% of games that do this.

The main challenge is to be as good as Zelda.

Okami is nice but cannot reach the aura of the franchise...

Have to agree here as a fellow Okamir.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

I think is more important to reflect just "copying" or trying to mimic old graphical styles is to learn more about old mechanics and philosophies in the old developing processes. One of those I can think right now is: we need less handholding, let the player learn at their pace, to much tutorials in modern gaming and more importantly, let the player fail.

 

[Vetusomaru]

Only a few modern retro-style games are actually good. Most of them are trash, especially Western ones.

 

[DZero]

This is like saying "You cannot make good musics with a flute".


I liked Zera despite barely touching Spyro outside of two DS games. Sadly it's apparently cancelled.

I need to try the second one someday.

By the way what do you think of the visual of these game?

Lunistice's

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The Big Catch
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And even PsiloSybil?
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Oh I forgot about Zortch
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i have only played Lunistice, it takes inspiration from ps1 but it does his own thing, it has the option of using a crt filter but i prefer to use Reshade for that.

And answering the question of the OP, i'm a big fan of indie retro games (mostly 2D games) and i do not like the psx-like horror games that have been released lately, this games tend to have some kind of creepypasta-like "story" with some big janky polygons with a weird filter to make it look old.

 

[Ikagura]

i have only played Lunistice, it takes inspiration from ps1 but it does his own thing, it has the option of using a crt filter but i prefer to use Reshade for that.

And answering the question of the OP, i'm a big fan of indie retro games (mostly 2D games) and i do not like the psx-like horror games that have been released lately, this games tend to have some kind of creepypasta-like "story" with some big janky polygons with a weird filter to make it look old.

Well it's more because of fads (like how metroidvania and roguelites are popular with indies).

I have only played Fatum Betula and Blood Sanctum for these eerie low poly game so far.

On the other hand I'd love to see more games like that if they wanted to add "uncanny low poly" in their indies

(Yeah it's inspired by ThunderForce but with a twist).

 

[maciintosh]

While it can still look good, "old" graphics in a newer game doesn't really have the same feel to it. The concept of a game actively trying to emulate the visual style of games off an older console, like the PS1, sort of takes away from it, in my opinion. It can still be visually appealing, sure, but it never really feels the same. Mostly because it isn't the '90s anymore.

 

[trickybus]

Slightly off topic but I want to address a behavior that's rather common among indie devs and one I believe contributes to the unfaithful depictions of retro gaming.

Ever since Silent Hills got cancelled, a sub-group within the indie scene has been obsessed with attempting to create what could have been, resulting in a genre of knock-offs I derisively refer to as Silent Hill: Lööps. I got suckered into giving one of these games a chance because visually, it seemed like the developer was genuinely trying to evoke the atmosphere of the demo.

It took about 15 minutes of playing to realize that the developer had no idea what they were doing and simply saw Silent Hills as [New Popular Aesthetic]. The most blatant example of this bastardization was the choice to copy the idea of the PT demo's radio chatter, then completely fucking up the effect by adding childish, creepypasta-esque descriptions of a murder scene.

To my eye, the mentality among retro indie devs is the same as that for Lööps devs: there's no actual desire to pay homage to the source material. The goal is to copy a popular aesthetic and repackage it for a much younger audience.